Your birthday happens each year on exactly the same day. It is a

Opening Scene – Narrated by Host

The soft, golden light of the early evening filtered through the curtains, casting gentle shadows across the room. Jack sat by the window, his gaze focused on the horizon, where the sun was just beginning to dip below the skyline. Outside, the world moved with its usual rhythm, but inside, Jack’s thoughts were still, consumed by the complexity of the moment. The hum of the city was a distant echo, but the weight of what he had been thinking about lingered in the quiet space around him.

Jeeny entered the room quietly, carrying two glasses of water. She placed one beside him, sensing the distant look in his eyes. She knew when Jack was deep in thought, his mind spinning with something that was difficult to put into words. She sat beside him, her voice gentle but probing.

Jeeny: “You’ve been thinking again. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

Jack didn’t immediately respond. He took a slow sip of water, his eyes still focused on the skyline, before finally turning toward her. There was a quiet intensity in his gaze, as though something had clicked into place.

Jack: “I was reading something earlier by Rick Tumlinson. He said, ‘Your birthday happens each year on exactly the same day. It is a solid thing, a dependable thing, a measure of your life broken down into 365 subunits. For a Leaper, it is a bit different. For us, the basic assumption is shattered from the beginning.’ And it made me think about how we mark time, how we measure our lives. For most people, birthdays are predictable—solid, dependable markers. But for some of us, it’s like time is different. It’s like the normal assumptions don’t apply.”

Jeeny listened carefully, her eyes softening with understanding as she placed her glass on the table beside her. She knew the feeling Jack was describing, the way time sometimes felt fragmented, unpredictable, especially when life didn’t follow the usual rhythms.

Jeeny: “You’re talking about how time can feel broken, almost out of sync, like you’re living outside of the usual cycle. A birthday for someone like you or a ‘Leaper’ feels different—it doesn’t fit into that predictable pattern of marking another year. It’s like you’re not just counting the days the way everyone else does. You’re moving through time differently.”

Jack: “Exactly. A birthday should be this fixed thing—a constant in the calendar, a day to measure the passage of time. But when life doesn’t fit neatly into that cycle, those markers—those dependable, solid dates—lose their meaning. The basic assumptions about how we experience time get shattered. It’s like you’re always living a little outside of it.”

Host: The room felt quieter now, the weight of the conversation sinking into the space between them. Jack’s thoughts had wandered to the deeper complexities of how he, and others like him, experienced time—how it was fragmented, unpredictable, and sometimes out of sync with the world around him. The typical markers of life, like birthdays, no longer held the same meaning when you couldn’t rely on them in the same way.

Jeeny: “It’s a strange feeling, isn’t it? That sense that you’re disconnected from the rhythm of time, from those markers that everyone else relies on to measure their lives. Birthdays, anniversaries, milestones—they all feel like solid things, but when they don’t line up for you, it’s like you’re out of step with the rest of the world.”

Jack: “Yeah, it’s like you’re watching everyone else move forward, counting those days, marking their lives, and you’re kind of floating outside of it. Your own sense of time becomes fragmented, like the usual measures don’t apply. It’s disorienting, sometimes.”

Host: There was a long pause as Jack reflected on what he had said. Time, for him, wasn’t something linear or predictable. It wasn’t something he could measure with the same certainty that others could. But there was also something freeing about that—something that allowed him to live outside of the boundaries that most people took for granted. Yet, there was also a sense of longing, of not fully fitting in with the rhythms that defined everyone else’s lives.

Jeeny: “I think there’s something powerful in how you experience time, though. Sure, it’s different, but it’s also unique. It gives you a freedom that others might not have. You don’t have to follow the same path or live according to the same markers. But at the same time, I can see how it can be unsettling, too—how it can make you feel detached from everyone else.”

Jack: “Yeah, it’s like both sides of the same coin. There’s freedom in not being tied to the usual rhythm of time. But there’s also a sense of isolation, of not being able to participate in the same rituals that everyone else does—like birthdays, like milestones. It’s like I’m living in a parallel universe where time moves differently.”

Jeeny: “Maybe the key is learning to find meaning in your own way, on your own terms. You don’t have to live by the usual markers of time to find your own sense of purpose. It’s about embracing the uniqueness of your journey, even if it doesn’t follow the same rhythm as everyone else’s.”

Climax and Reconciliation

Jack sat back in his chair, the realization settling in. Maybe he didn’t need to measure his life by the same standards that others did. Perhaps his sense of time, fragmented and unpredictable as it was, held its own kind of meaning—a deeper, personal understanding of his journey.

Jack: “I think you’re right. Maybe it’s about letting go of the need to measure my life by the same markers. My journey doesn’t have to follow the same timeline as everyone else’s. I can find meaning in the way I experience time, even if it’s not conventional.”

Jeeny: “Exactly. Your life, your story, doesn’t have to fit into the usual boxes. Time can be something you experience on your own terms, and that makes it just as real, just as valuable.”

Host: The quiet of the room felt different now, the weight of Jack’s thoughts lifting. He no longer felt the need to conform to the usual markers of time, like birthdays and anniversaries. Instead, he embraced the uniqueness of his own journey, a journey that existed outside of conventional time. The freedom in that realization was both grounding and liberating, a quiet acceptance of living life on his own terms. The world outside continued its rhythm, but inside, Jack had found peace in his own sense of time.